Site.Sound.Industry
The place makes the music. It shares responsibility for characteristic sounds and genre developments. In important locations of the genesis of pop culture, such as Memphis, Chicago, Detroit, London, Manchester or the Ruhr area, there has always been an important connection between the respective urban surroundings and the type of music (whether Blues, Rock’n’Roll, Punk, House, Techno, etc.) that emerged there— and could sometimes only have emerged there. The urban environment, the state of its society, and its architecture flowed equally into the local sound and image production, just as a certain unmistakable character usually echoed in the sound from certain big cities as well. The conjunction between local urban surroundings and the music styles arising from them is the central starting point for the chapter Site.Sound.Industry. Industrial cities assume a special position here, to which sound-defining characteristics have been repeatedly attributed. Conveyor belt production, exploitation and alienation of the labor force, unemployment, migration of industry, flexibilization of formerly fulltime employees—all these aspects can be identified one way or another in the music that comes from these kinds of cities. This is especially true for a style that developed beginning in the mid-1970s with a very direct reference to socio-urban environments doomed to downfall in its nihilist sound fantasies. Starting from northern English cities like Sheffield and Manchester, but also decaying urban areas of London, the wall city of Berlin or industrial zones like the Ruhr area, Industrial, as this style was called, conjoined a propensity for machinic, mostly electronic sound production with the downfall scenarios of a meanwhile dysfunctional industrial culture. It was not by chance that one of the first slogans for the movement was
Exhibition contribution curated by Petra Erdmann and Christian Höller
Throbbing Gristle, 1976-80
Derek Jarman, T.G.: Psychic Rally in Heaven, 1981
Andrew Gowans, Throbbing Gristle's Hackney, 2006
Einstürzende Neubauten, Stahlmusik, 1981
Peter Saville, 1978-82
Kevin Cummins, Photoworks, 1977–1989
Die Krupps, Stahlwerksynfonie, 1981
Test Department, Ecstacy Under Duress, 1984
Wolfgang Müller, Wolfsburger Modell zur Herstellung einer unsichtbaren Vinylscheibe, Linzer Version, 1980/2009
Jeremy Deller, Theory & Practice, 1997/98
Works: Ecstacy Under Duress, Photoworks, Stahlmusik (Steel Music), Stahlwerksynfonie, T.G.: Psychic Rally in Heaven, Theory & Practice, Throbbing Gristle’s Hackney, We Will Never Miss, Wolfsburger Modell zur Herstellung einer unsichtbaren Vinylscheibe (Wolfsburg Model for the Production of an Invisible Vinyl Record)
People: Kevin Cummins, Jeremy Deller, Kerstin von Gabain, Andrew Gowans, Derek Jarman, Wolfgang Müller, Peter Saville
Socialbodies: Die Krupps, Einstürzende Neubauten, Test Dept (Test Department), Throbbing Gristle